Mishaps in Learning
by Cira Stones
Summary: Jake had quite a few mishaps while learning to use his dragon powers, landing him in both serious and humorous trouble. Luckily, his grandfather was willing to help him out. Sometimes
1. Flying

My idea on how Jake's initial training in using his abilities might have went. Of course, I haven't seen the whole series yet so I don't if there's an episode that tells us but I still want to write a fic for it. One is kind of serious and the other are just for laughs.

Please R&R.

* * *

**Chapter One - Flying**

A bell chimed as the door the store opened, signaling the arrival of Jake Long. Looking around, Jake saw no one in the front of the store. Peeking inside the backroom of his grandfather's store, Jake noticed that there wasn't anyone there either.

"Hello?" He called. "Anybody home?" Jake waited for a moment, but the store remained silent and still. He waited for a whole minute, just in case Grandpa or Fu dog were really there but no one answered. Grinning to himself, the young dragon rushed up the stairs to the rooftop. Throwing his bag down by the door as he passed, he stopped in the middle of the roof, whispered dragon up and after in sudden blaze of fire, stood in his dragon form. Still grinning, Jake stretched his wings, feeling the muscles and skin stretch to their limits before relaxing them, then softly flapping them till they touched the ground then as high as they would go. When he raised his wings, he felt a strong burst of wind pushed against them, practically telling him to start flying. He did this a few more times to warm up, just as he had been taught by his grandfather. Crouching down, he raised his wings and got ready to flap them down to take off.

"Three...two.." Jake whispered, feeling his excitement build and the wind pick up under his wings again."...on—"

"Jake!"

Jake's flapped his wing down in surprise, shooting into the air for a second before he fell back down, landing on his stomach.

"Fu! You messed me up!" Said Jake, sitting up and rubbing his chin where it had hit the ground.

The grey dog walked up to him and sat down, dropping his newspaper beside him. "What are you thinking, trying to fly? You know you can't practice flying without another dragon around, Jake."

"Oh come, Fu!" Said Jake, folding his wings back down against his body. "I wasn't going to fly high enough for anyone to see me. Just high enough to hover for a bit."

"You want to fly, that's fine. But you have to wait till your grandpa get back from Magus Bazaar."

Jake changed back into his human form, sitting cross legged in front of Fu. He clapped his hands together and said, "Please Fu! I really wanna do some flying and Grandpa might be _hours_ before he finally comes back. And it's almost sunset."

"Nope. It's too dangerous." Said Fu, not budging. "You aren't used to flying for very long yet or even staying in your dragon form that long. If you go too high and your wings start to tire, you'll come falling down like a sack of leprechaun gold and trust me, that _will_ hurt."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"It ain't gonna work, kid."

"I'll buy you all the hamburgers you can eat."

"Tempting, but no."

"Fine." Said Jake, crossing his arms in frustration and pouting a bit. "Then I guess I'll just wait here for Grandpa to get back—"

Fu smiled, giving a approving nod with his head. "Good." He said, picking up his newspaper in his mouth and starting towards the stairs.

"And tell him _who really_ spilled potion all over his photos of China."

Fu froze, dropping his newspaper in shock. Slowly he turned to look at Jake. "You wouldn't."

"Grandpa was mad for hours afterwards," said Jake, staring off into space, looking like he was trying hard to remember something.

"He'll yell at me nonstop in Chinese for days.." Mumbled Fu.

"and I only got off easy since he thought I had accidently done it while getting use to my dragon form." Jake grimaced as though the very memory was painful.

Fu started pacing in worry. "Or he'll do worse then that. He'll probably cut my pay in half and make me start paying off my debt! It's be years before I can even buy my own kibble! He only buy that low quality bargain brand."

Jake fell backwards, one hand falling onto his forehead in woe. "All because you didn't want him to know that you had brought some of your poker friends over when he specifically said not to—"

'Alright!" Said Fu, looking very unhappy. Jake smiled, still lying on his back. "You can do a little flying, **but** you have to promise not to fly to high. You start to fall and there won't be anyone to catch you."

"Yes!" Said Jake, jumping up in triumph and giving Fu a hug. "Thanks, Fu. You're the best."

"Yeah yeah." Mumbled Fu, feeling a headache coming on. Jake transformed into a dragon once again and with a down beat of his large wings, shot into the air.

Flying was amazing! Being able to soar through the air at increasingly rising speeds and turn sharply with slight movements of his wings was Jake's favorite ability out of all his dragon powers, not to mention the one that he learning most easily. Down below, Fu slumped against the wall, one paw rubbing his head and other grabbing his newspaper as a gentle breeze ruffled the pages. Jake continued flying for another ten minutes, in which time Fu became engrossed with an article in his newspaper and the sun set even lower. Just as Jake began thinking of flying a little higher while Fu was distracted, the wind picked up suddenly.

"Whoa!"

The breeze knocked him off course and straight up into the sky, higher then he ever flown yet. Jake, despite spinning a bit, watched Fu throw his paper to the side and to the middle of the roof. As the wind became even stronger and Fu shrunk into a tiny dote, Jake felt himself start to feel sick. He tried beating his wings in hope of righting himself, but it only seemed to make him move even faster in the wind current.

"This isn't good." Said Jake. He beat his wings one more time, finally allowing him to face forward. He grinned for a moment, before looking ahead. His eyes widen and before he could do anything, Jake crashed into stone walls of a building. Falling down and knocking against some of the protruding points and ledges of the building. He finally landed on one of the building's wider edges, skidding to edge unconscious. He laid there for a moment before he changed back into his human form in another burst of flames, but didn't move.

* * *

Fu raced down the stairs and out of the store, watching in fear as the wind current Jake was carried off. He tried following in the streets below, but quickly lost track of Jake who disappear behind the sky scrapers. He came to halt in exhaustion, people walking by on the street watching him curiously.

"Oh man, Jake. Where did you go?" Said Fu in between deep breaths. He searched the streets, hoping to see Jake either flying back overhead or him walking down the back to the shop. Despite his efforts, Fu returned to the shop half an hour later, tired and worried beyond belief. As he approached the store, his head shot up as he saw the lights on. He ran the rest of the way to the store and burst through the door.

"Jake! Are you here?" Asked Fu since there wasn't anyone in the front of the shop. He heard something bang in the back and ran back there. "Jake, you have no idea how worried I've be—" The person in the back wasn't Jack, but Lao Shi. He put down his bag down, looking at Fu slightly surprised. "Oh..um hey Gramps." Greeted Fu, sitting down nervously. He tried to appear calm. "So how was shopping in Magus Bazaar?"

Lao Shi gave him an unconvinced look. "What this about Jake?" He asked.

* * *

A breeze ruffled Jake's hair and clothes, slowly waking him up. Coming back to consciousness, the first thing Jake registered was that he felt completely sore and that everything was dark. His back and head felt the worse though. His back was aching as though someone had him hit multiple time in the back with a pipe or something. Groaning, he held his head and pushed himself into a sitting position. His forehead hurt and something warm was running down his face. Reaching up and touching his head right above his left eye, Jake felt something warm and sticky cover his fingers. When he pulled his hand away to look, Jake saw that it was lightly covered in blood. "_No wonder I have a headache."_ He thought.

Looking around, Jake gasped as he realized that sitting right on the edge of a building. Frightened, Jake crawled the few feet to the wall and leaned against it.

"Oh my god, where am I?" He asked. Slowly he moved towards the edge and looked over the side. Down below dozens of lights moved along in straight lines and the windows of all the building around him were lit up. What was worse was that Jake was looking down on the cracker-sized rooftops of all of the buildings around him. Quickly he moved back.

"Great. I'm hundreds of feet up on the ledge of a building, that's only about a yard wide, in the middle of the night." A strong wind blew through, making Jake shiver and press himself harder against the building. "Okay...I can handle this." Jake muttered to himself. "I'll just fly off and make my way home." Slowly Jake stood up, still pressing himself hard against the cold stone behind, which made his back hurt even more. Jake looked down only to quickly force himself to look up at the sky. He hadn't ever fly at this height before and he wasn't sure if he could make it down safely.

Taking a deep breath, Jake thought about his predicament. If he stayed put, he might not be found till morning, at which case the person to find him would probably end being a regular human and then Jake would have to come up with some excuse as to how he got when the police or a fire fighter or whoever finally got him down. On the other hand, if he tried flying, he would have to fly from a height he hadn't ever flown at and risks possible being seen. Jake continued thinking, but the decision was made for him as thunder sounded in the distance. Jake stared at the sky and realized that large, dark clouds were slowly moving in overhead.

Not wanting to be out there in a thunder storm, Jake transformed in his dragon form, only to cry in pain and almost collapse before quickly transforming back while realizing he wouldn't be flying anywhere.

His wings were broken. That's why his back hurt so much.

"Aw, man. Now what am I gonna do?" Groaned Jake, leaning against the building.

An hour later, Jake watched the streets below him in boredom. The worst of the pain had subsided from his back, which now just constantly ached. The lines of cars below had also thinned greatly and dozens of windows had gone dark as people went to bed. The fact that he was so high no longer bothered Jake either, which he assumed was probably due to his dragon heritage. It hadn't started to storm just quite yet either, though the sky was now completely covered in dark clouds and thundered was starting to sound louder and more often. Feeling a drop of rain hit his face, Jake looked up. But instead of the cloud covered sky, he stared into the black eyes of a larger blue and white dragon.

"Grandpa?"

Lao Shi crawled down beside him. "Do you know how worried I've been?" He asked, his voice both angry and relieved. He transformed into his human form, sitting beside Jake. He turned Jake's face to the side gently to look at his wound. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Only a cut."

He flew in front of Jake so he climb on. "I'm sorry, Grandpa." He said. Lao Shi didn't say anything and flew them above all the buildings all the way back to his shop. As soon as they landed, Fu rushed out to meet them, knocking Jake to the ground in a hug.

"Boy I am glad to see you safe, Jake." He said. "When you got blown away and I couldn't find you, I thought something really terrible might have happened." He pulled back, still smiling. But once he got a look at Jake, a look of panic spread across his face. "You're bleeding!"

"He's alright, Fu." Said Lao Shi, ushering them both inside and into the back room where he sat Jake down on a stool. "He was only scratched." Fu went over to bookcase and pulled off a small box from it. Digging around in it for a moment, he pulled out a round, pale violet bottle and handed it to Lao Shi.

"Now hold still for a moment, Jake." Said Lao Shi. He poured some of the clear liquid from the bottle onto a wash cloth and held it against the cut. His skin started to feel tingly.

"That feels weird." Said Jake. "What is this stuff?"

"It's a handy little potion for healing flesh wounds." Answered Fu, carrying a damp cloth and placing it on the counter beside them. "A pain to make but it'll do wonders for you. Cleans the wound, heals it, and you won't even be left with a scar. Great for your complexion too."

Once the cut was cleaned, Jake felt his head above his left eye. He didn't feel anything there but smooth skin, although part of his face was still covered in blood. Lao Shi took the cloth from Fu and dunked it into some water. He then began cleaning the blood Jake's face.

"Grandpa!" Said Jake, trying to push the cloth away. "I can do it myself." But Lao Shi just shushed him and continued working. Once he was done, he allowed Jake to get off the stool. As he was giving his grandson a once-over to make sure there weren't anymore injuries, Lao Shi accidently bumped Jake's back with his elbow. Jake jerked away from him, a look of pain on his face. Fu and Lao Shi looked surprised at Jake's sudden move. Then Lao Shi's expression became very serious.

"Jake...come here."

Jake backed away more. "No way. My back hurts enough alrea—hey!" Lao Shi grabbed Jake's arm, yanking him back roughly and making him sit down again; only this time on the floor. "Change." Ordered Gramps. Jake did, though somewhat reluctantly. Immediately after doing so, he curled himself into a ball, his wings limp on either side of him and painfully twisted and bent at odd angles. Fu chocked back an alarmed yelp at the sight. A look of shock momentarily passed over Gramps' face before it quickly went back to it's former serious expression. "Fu, that special potion—the one in the red bottle."

"I'm on it." He said. Fu ran back to the shelf, grabbing a ladder and climbing to the very top shelf. While Fu Dog pushed several boxes out of the way and muttered to himself, Lao Shi kneeled next to Jake, laid one wing on his lap and gently started run his fingers across the bone and muscles. Jake hissed at him, attempting to move his injured wing away from his grandfather's touch, but Lao Shi took firm hold at the base where the wing meet Jake's back.

"I know it hurts." Said Lao Shi. "But I need see how bad the damage is." Jake continued growling and was beginning to thrash around. Seeing that Jake was only becoming more upset, Lao Shi quickly struck on nerve on Jake's neck. His entire body fell limp against the ground, but it wouldn't last long. "You need to stay calm, Jake. If you continue moving you'll only make the damage worse. Do you want to lose your ability to fly?" He asked. Jake stopped trying to move completely, listening very carefully and watching his grandfather. He continued. "Your wings are badly injured—almost to the point that the damage is irreversible. Any more and you'll never fly again. Do you understand?"

Jake nodded. Lao Shi didn't move for a moment, just to be sure that Jake had calmed down somewhat. Then Lao Shi slowly started moving Jake's wing out, feeling for broken bones or torn muscles. He watched Jake carefully for any signs that he would begin thrashing around again, but he stay almost completely still. Occasionally, his tail twitched or lightly banged against the floor when the pain became really bad. Fu Dog returned, pulling a small wooden crate across the floor to them.

"Here they are." He said, stopping the crate right next to Lao Shi, who used claw of the dragon to rip the top off. "Every bottle we have."

"Thank you, Fu."

Lao Shi grabbed one of the bottles, which were large, oddly shaped, and a very dark blood red color, and poured out some of the contents. A dull gold colored syrupy liquid spilled out and Lao Shi started gently rubbing it on one of Jake's wings; Fu started doing the same to the other. As soon as the potion touched Jake's wing, a strange warmth filled the area, soaking deep into the muscles and even the thin bones underneath. The pain quickly became little more then a dull ach. By the time both of Jake's wings were completely covered in the syrup, which had taken almost every last bottle in the crate, Jake was dozing off and even started lightly purring. He didn't notice when Fu and his grandfather left his side and went over to the sink.

"That should help heal his wings." Said Fu, washing the potion off his paws at the sink. "For a second there, I was really worried about Jake. His wings looked thoroughly mangled!"

Lao Shi stood up, also washing his hands. But he still appeared solemn. "I just hope we were in time." He speaking, more to himself than to Fu.

"What are you talking about? Aren't Jake's wings going to be fine?" Asked Fu, feeling worried again. He glanced at Jake on the floor. He had fallen asleep, still curled up.

"Jake's wings were like that for hours." Answered Lao Shi. "Some of the damage might have already become permanent, even before I had finally found him." He sat down next to Jake, studying his wings and watch him for signs of discomfort. "If he had received treatment sooner, I wouldn't be so worried."

There was a moment of silence in which the two watched Jake fall deeper asleep. Finally Fu said in barely above a whisper, "This is all my fault. If only I hadn't let him start flying, then this wouldn't have happened."

"Jake is to blame as well." Said Lao Shi. "He hadn't given any thought to anything but what he wanted to do. And of course, neither of you could have known how quickly that storm was moving in. If it hadn't been for the strong storm winds, Jake would have been fine to do some flying."

Fu sat down next to Jake as well. He had stopped purring and now took slow, deep breaths as he slept. Lao Shi grabbed a blanket from a cupboard and covered as much of Jake as he could without the blanket also touching the now gold colored wings. "It'll be a long night," Said Lao Shi, "I'll go make some tea." As he headed for the mini-kitchen in another room, Fu laid down, getting himself comfortable.

* * *

The next morning, Jake woke up feeling better then he had in the last twenty-four hours. He stretched, the blanket falling off and his claws scratching the floor like a cat. Staring at the long, thin claw marks now etched into the floor, Jake quickly covered them with the blanket before anyone saw them.

"I see that you finally woke up, Jake."

Jake quickly turned around and saw his grandfather standing in the doorway, carrying two steaming cups in his hands. He walked over and sat down next to Jake, setting one of the cups down in front of him. Seeing it from a dragon's point of view, the cup looked surprisingly small.

"Thanks." Said Jake. He was about to transform so he could hold the cup, but gramps held out his hand to stop him.

"I need to check your wings first, Jake." He said, taking one of his wings again and examining it closely. Remembering yesterday, Jake turned his head around to look. His wings no longer hurt nor were they bent out of shape. Flapping the one wing gramps wasn't looking at, Jake found that they didn't hurt to move either. After much poking and prodding of his wings, Grandpa finally allowed Jake to change back.

"Man, I never felt better." Said Jake, stretching his arms above his head. Grandpa handed him the cup again, drinking from his own. "What was that stuff?" Asked Jake. "It wasn't the same thing that you used for my cut."

"That was a very special potion." Answered Lao Shi, gesturing to Jake to drink. "It takes a month to make a single batch, and the ingredients for it are hard to get, but well worth the time and effort. It sooths and mends bones in a dragon's wings to heal them quickly and prevent any permanent damage."

"So it heals bones?" Asked Jake. He took a sip of the drink, almost spitting it back out. It was tea obviously, but it tasted horrible. He set the cup down behind him.

"It only works for dragons." Said Lao Shi. "You have to drink all of that."

Jake made a sick face, looking at his grandfather in disbelief. "It taste horrible though!" He said. "How can you stand the taste?"

"It's medicinal tea. It's to help make sure your little adventure doesn't get you sick."

Jake grumpily took the cup and started drinking, muttering something his grandpa being a health nut under his breath as he did so. Personally he didn't mind the thought of getting sick if it meant he could skip school on Monday, then he would have extra time to do his homework. Jake was just about finished with his nasty tasting tea when Lao Shi remembered something.

"I almost forgot," he started to say, watching Jake force himself to drink the last swallow of tea. "You need to head home as soon as you're done."

Jake chocked. "What? You didn't tell mom, did you?" He asked.

"Of course I told your mother." He said, silently laughing at the look of horror on Jake's face. "What kind of grandparent would I be if I didn't?"

"Aw man!" Said Jake. "She'll kill me when I get home!" He ran to the front door, grabbing his backpack and almost knocking over Fu as he went.

* * *

Personally, this one is my favorite. Mostly because it's the kind of serious one. Chapter two will be up shortly.


	2. Playing with Fire

I think this one is my second favorite. Not as long as the first but still good in my opinion. Enjoy the fic!

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**Chapter Two - Playing with Fire**

Three large fire balls shot through the air, hitting targets set up on the other side of the roof. They completely caught fire and within seconds, were falling apart from the flames.

Fu Dog, taking cover behind a low brick wall, peeked his head over and called to the red dragon standing on the other side. "Jake! That's good. You can stop now!"

The red dragon stopped and Jake changed back into his human form. "Ha! I hit them all." He said with triumph. "What's next?"

"That's all for today actually." Answered Fu, dousing a small fire in one of the planter boxes. "You can go home now."

"Seriously? But I'm on a roll!" Said Jake.

"Yeah, yeah, that's great kid but I need some time to grow my fur back." Fu turned around, showing that his back side was almost completely black. "Magical fur." He continued, turning around again. "The only thing keeping me from becoming an overcooked hot dog with you constantly setting me on fire."

Jake smiled sheepishly. "Right. Sorry about that." He apologized. He turned and headed for the door, grabbing his backpack. "See you tomorrow Fu!"

"Yeah..." He said. "I can't wait for tomorrow."

Jake arrived home and went up to his room. He jumped onto his bed and laid back to relax. But he quickly became bored. Nothing to do: Trixie and Spud were busy with family stuff, his skateboard was broken from a trick he tried last week, and Jake didn't even have homework or chores to do.

"Oh man...I'm so bored!" He whinned, hitting his head on his pillow. He was just thinking of taking a nap when his door suddenly slammed opened and in bounced Haley. She had what looked like six or seven different colored helium balloons tied to her wrist. "Jake, I got you a balloon!" She said, thrusting the only red one at him.

"Haley, what I am going to do with a balloon?" He asked, annoyed at having been interrupted. He pushed the balloon aside, which floated away to hit his ceiling and bounce against a poster tacked to it.

Haley pouted and turned away, looking very sad. "I'm just trying to do something nice for my favorite brother in the whole wide world." She said, chocking on a pretend sob. Her body shook as she cried.

Jake sighed. "What do you want?" He asked, sitting up. _"At least now I'll have something to do." _Thought Jake.

Haley smiled brightly and jumped on Jake's bed. All her balloons had been untied from her wrist and now bumped against the ceiling and each other as they floated around. "Teach me dragon stuff, Jake. Please?"

"What? No way. You're not old enough." He said. "You wouldn't be able to handle it."

"I so could handle it." She argued. "You just don't want to teach me because I would be way better at it then you."

"You would not."

"I would too!"

"Not!"

"Prove it then." Challenged Haley, pointing upwards at the ceiling. "Who ever hits the most balloons wins." Jake looked up at the balloons bouncing against his ceiling. There were seven of them in total, all a different color and looked fairly easy to hit for the ones that weren't really moving. But from the way some of the others bounced around, he would have to be careful of his aiming or he would end up hitting something other than the balloons. In the back of his mind, something screamed to stop and think, but Jake wasn't gonna listen right now because doing so might give Haley the idea that he was scared her silly challenge.

He smiled. "You're on!"

They each transformed, one light pink dragon and a slightly larger red one, both crowded on the bed. Jake jumped off. "I'll shot from the floor, so it'll be fair."

Haley growled and jumped down too. "I don't need an height advantage." She said. "Although if it would make you feel better, you can shot from the bed. Or you could just back down now and avoid losing."

"Let's just get this stupid contest started."

They both got into position and took aim on a balloon. Jake aimed at his red one while Haley decided to target a purple one. "On the count of three, we start." She said. "One...two.." They counted together. "Three!"

It was like seven tiny bombs went off all at once in Jake's room. Haley's balloon happen to bump into another balloon right beside it when it was hit, setting that one off as well. Jake used more fire then necessary, blowing up three at once. Flames from the balloons blown up by the dragon siblings caught and blow up all the others. Jake and Haley ducked, pressing themselves against the floor. The poster tacked to Jake's ceiling caught on fire and fell onto his bed, setting the covers and his pillow on fire. Some clothes on the floor caught fire as well. Smoke from the things burning escaped from the cracks between the door and walls, setting off a fire alarm.

There was a moment of paused between the two siblings as they stared at the burning bed and the partly blackened ceiling. They changed back and both yelled, "Mom!"

Half an hour later, the fire department, after having to rushing over and putting out the fires, began to pack up and leave. Jake's bedroom was now partly burned and half of his stuff was charred and beyond repair. Susan, having already been told what had happened, decided to tell the fire department the truth that Jake and Haley had been setting the balloons on fire, but left out the part of them being dragons. As the last man jumped on the truck and it began to drive away, Susan approached her two children sitting on the front steps. They gulped as they saw the look of anger on her face.

"It was his/her fault!" They claimed, each pointing at the other. They jumped into another explanation of what had happened, only this time each was trying to pin the blame on the other and free themselves of their impending punishment. Susan raised her hand, stopping the all talk at once.

"Both of you are grounded for a month." She said, crossing her arms. "Extra chores, no desserts, **and** you two will get to tell your father what happened here when he gets home." She gave them a horrifying look, daring them to argue with her. But Haley and Jake looked down at the ground in shame, neither saying anything and only nodding in agreement.

As their mother walked past them to enter the house, Haley spoke. "This is your fault."

"Mine? It was your idea!"

"You're older!" She argued. "You should have known they would explode."

"And one more thing," Called Susan, leaning out of the doorway and smiling sweetly. They both turned to look at her, afraid to hear of what other punishment she was about to bestow upon them. "both of you lose your allowances until all the repairs have been paid for."

The two siblings hung their heads and groaned. "Aw, man!" They said together.


	3. Strength of the Dragon

This may be the last chapter. I had another chapter lined up, but now I'm not sure if I should bother posting it. Maybe I will, but first I'll have to finish writing it before I decide anything. This one also comes in a close second with chapter two as my second favorite. Enjoy reading!

* * *

**Chapter Three - Strength of the Dragon**

"So all I'm supposed to do is transform into a dragon.." Said Jake, looking around in the box on the floor in front of him. He pulled out one of the objects from it and glared at it, half thinking of setting it on fire. Fu Dog and Gramdpa nodded.

"And play with these toys that are _meant for little kids_?" He asked slowly, making sure he had all this correct. He held up plastic blow up beach ball. Inside the box were several other toys, including a fire truck, a small rubber bouncy ball, and stuffed cow doll.

"Precisely." Said Lao Shi. "Now that you have your assisgement, I'll be in the back if you need anything."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Said Jake quickly. "How is playing with toys in my dragon form at all educational?"

Lao Shi sighed. He knew Jake wouldn't be happy with his very first day of training. Fu Dog, seeing a long lecture quickly coming on, decided to leave on some held-off errands. He didn't want to have to listen to them argue. "Now Jake, the body of a dragon is vastly different from a human body." He began. "Shorter legs, claws, a tail, increased strength and greater sharpness of your six senses. Not to mention the shape of a dragon's body is entirely different from a human's. These are all things you need to be completely use to before we start any serious training." Explained Grandpa Long. Jake still looked unimpressed though. "Otherwise we'll run into some serious problems. What if you tried to help some magical creature and ended up hurting them instead because you used to much strength?"

Jake dropped the toy back into the box. "Fine, I get it. But how is playing with baby toys gonna help me again?" He asked.

His grandfather just sighed and walked over the to the shelf. He pulled off two dark blue velvet boxes tied shut with thin, gold ropes. Jake eyed them curiously as his grandfather untied the rope on one and pulled off the lid. Inside was what looked like a ball made of glass. Lao Shi handed the ball to Jake and transformed into his dragon form. "What do you think of that?" He asked.

Jake studied it, holding it carefully because of how fragile it appeared. But the glass ball wasn't as delicate as it looked. It was kind of heavy and even when Jake tried with all his might to crush it in his hands, he couldn't break it. It must have been made entirely of glass. "It's pretty sturdy." He said, handing it back to his grandfather. He held it in one claw and with using little more strength then he would use crushing an empty soda can, he crushed it. The ball shattered, breaking off into hundreds of sharp little pieces all over the floor. Opening his claw and showing Jake, all that the young dragon found was two largish, jagged pieces of the core. "Cool." He said, feeling very impressed.

"As a human, that ball is impossible to break on your own. But the strength of a dragon is tremendous and can crush it easily." Lao Shi turned back into his human form and opening the other box, pulling out another ball. But this one was different from the other. It had a little red glass ball rolling around inside it. Handing it to Jake, he realized that it was much lighter then the other too. This one was as delicate as it looked. "That is expensive crystal glass ball. It would be a bit difficult to break for a human but for a dragon, the lightest touch could crush it."

"So what I am supposed to do with it?" Asked Jake.

A sly smile spread across his grandfather's face and he took the glass ball back. "If you can keep ahold of this ball and have it still intact by the end of one hour, we'll skip the basics of your training and move on to the more advanced lessons."

Jake smiled. "Alright!" He said, transforming. "This will be a piece of cake."

Lao Shi just smiled. "Let's begin then, shall we?" He tossed the ball lightly over to Jake. Or over him actually. The ball flew above his head in an arch and started to come down. Jake jumped and slide across the floor, catching the ball in his claws. He stood up, looking victorious. "Ha! See? Still intact." But the smile hadn't left Lao Shi's face. He pointed at the glass ball.

"What?" Jake took a closer look. At first, he didn't see anything different, but then he realized that the glass had hundreds of thin cracks all over it. As a human, he wouldn't have noticed that cracks being as tiny as they were. "Okay, fine." He said, repeatedly tossing the ball into the air and catching it. "It has a _few_ cracks but it's still in one piece so it's still fair game."

"Yes, but I don't think so for much longer. But the way, there's a penalty if you fail."

Wait. What penalty?" Asked Jake, confused. His grandfather only turned and left, disappearing into the backroom. Jake shrugged, tossing the ball even higher. "Whatever. There's no way I'm gonna drop this." He tossed it up one more time, but when he caught it he enclosed his claw around it. The glass ball shattered, showering the floor in tiny glass particles. The little red glass ball that had been inside it fell to the floor, also breaking.

His grandfather returned, carrying another box. Seeing the overly happy look on his grandpa's face, Jake suddenly felt very worried. "Umm...gramps?"

"Yes, Jake?"

"What's in that box?" He asked. He was feeling very meek for some reason, despite still being in his dragon form. Lao Shi grinned even bigger. "Oh this? It's your penalty."

* * *

When Fu returned from running his errands an hour later, he walked into the shop feeling pretty good. He had settled a debt with an old friend and gotten all his errands done in record time, meaning there would be plenty of time for him to lounge around later. "Hey gramps!" He called, pushing open the store door and heading straight for the backroom. "I got everything we need for that new potio—Wha-what happened to you, Jake!?"

Lao Shi sat at the table, reading the paper and looking very calm and collected. But what had shocked Fu was the sight of Jake. He laid on the floor, in his dragon form and surrounded by baby toys, most of which were riddled with puncture marks from him gripping it too tightly or shredded completely by accident. He had expected that, it was that fact that Jake was wearing a yellow baby bonnet with white lace trim on his head that made him laugh. All four of his legs and the end of his tail had little lace cuffs too. After getting over his moment of shock, Fu started giggling. "Woah...Jake. I-I didn't know...that..." He tried to hold it in, but he couldn't. He fell to the floor, laughing so hard that after a minute he had trouble breathing. But even then he couldn't stop laughing.

"Shut up, Fu." Growled Jake, using his tail to hit the toy fire truck at him. Even with a fire truck to the head and what would be in any other situation a highly frightening, murderous glare, Fu couldn't stop. Jake looked adorable!

He didn't stop howling with laughter till Lao Shi dumped a bucket of water on him. Still chuckling a bit, Fu turned to Lao Shi. "So what did the kid do?" He asked.

Lao Shi, trying to appear completely serious, replied, "I'm simply enforcing some discipline and respect for my teaching methods."

"So in other words, Jake like the idea of playing with toys to see how different things were in a dragon's body?" Guessed Fu, surpassing another fit of laughter. "I suppose I can sympathize with that, but why is he still doing this? I figured you two would have been done by now."

"I can stop now?" Questioned Jake, a look of relief spreading across his face. Lao Shi shook his head and with a barely visible grin, said, "I'm afraid not, Jake. You still have another hour to go."

"Aw, man!" Whinned Jake, banging his head against the floor. Fu Dog, and even Lao Shi, couldn't help laughing some more.


End file.
